ADF report 'will shock some people'

A damning report on sexual abuse in the military has found un-prosecuted rapists will probably remain in senior positions in the armed forces.

Publishing the report, which included a ''plausible'' and graphic account of the gang rape of a 13-year-old boy, Defence Minister Stephen Smith said the allegations of abuse within the Defence forces ''will shock some people''.

Mr Smith said the government would soon announce its response to the report. A royal commission, a formal apology and compensation were options.

The report suggests there has been a lack of action in cases of abuse within the Defence Force. Photo: Glenn Campbell

The review by law firm DLA Piper said a large number of victims deserved compensation.

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''From the 1950s through to the early 1980s, many boys aged 13, 14, 15 and 16 years of age in the ADF [Australian Defence Force] suffered abuse, including serious sexual and other physical abuse,'' it found. It was probable many victims never reported their abuse or assault, and ''a substantial number'' of current and former ADF personnel could be at higher risk of suicide.

The report said it was possible that male cadets who raped female cadets in the late 1990s, and other cadets who witnessed the assaults and did not intervene ''may now be in 'middle' to 'senior' management positions in the ADF''. And, it said, many of the victims of abuse later inflicted similar abuse on other personnel.

The review, sparked by the so-called Skype sex scandal at the Australian Defence Force Academy last year, received complaints from 847 people, many containing more than one allegation of abuse, alleging assaults between 1951 and 2011. It said the ''overwhelming majority'' of allegations appeared plausible, and many had not been reported before. None of the alleged perpetrators were named in the report.

DLA Piper cautioned that a royal commission into the matter could be too expensive and time-consuming. But it also suggested a commission could be used to identify perpetrators of assault who have never been called to account.

The report's authors said they encountered resistance from current and former leaders of the ADF when they tried to discuss past abuse and what might be done to address its continuing effects.

''At one level there has been hostility simply because we outsiders - civilian lawyers - have been questioning 'their' ADF on the particularly sensitive issue of abuse by members of the ADF inflicted on other members of the ADF.

''At another level there is a concern that a report by the review drawing attention to past abuse in the ADF could damage the ADF's current reputation and, thus, damage the ADF's operational capability.''

But, they said, no organisation - let alone any military organisation of the size and complexity of the ADF and its predecessor defence forces - could expect to be free of abuse across the 60 years of allegations the review considered. However, the report shows historic lack of action in abuse cases. The Grey Review into allegations of abuse, held in the late 1990s, identified 24 cases of rape at the Australian Defence Force Academy.

''It seems that none of the matters went to trial.''

During the 1950s and 1960s, boys as young as 13 were recruited to the Navy.

One man, now in his 70s, described the horrific abuse he suffered at HMAS Cerberus as a newly joined-up 13-year-old cadet, describing how he was force-fed rotting food slops until he choked and blacked out, before he was hosed off, held down and anally raped with a wooden club.

His report, the DLA Piper report said, was plausible and was not an atypical case.

DLA Piper said granting of amnesties would be a matter for each jurisdiction, although in the ACT, the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions has the power to give a person a binding undertaking that they will not be prosecuted for a specified offence.

''These provisions may be of particular relevance if there were to be any reconciliation process to deal with the legacy issues from ADFA in the 1990s,'' the report said.

Coalition Defence spokesman David Johnston said he was concerned about the disturbing allegations and said the government needed to act quickly to address the claims. Senator Johnston said it had been ''clear since last October'' that there were hundreds of serious allegations.

''Justice delayed is justice denied. The government needs to act quickly and sensitively on this and the first priority should be the complainants. Whether or not that is in the form of compensation, an apology or other options, the government needs to move on these matters,'' he said.